Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

Chapter 15
examining the IConic and rediscovering
the photography of Space exploration in
Context to the history of photography 1
Michael Soluri
The exactly repeatable pictorial statement in its photographic forms
has played an operational role of the greatest importance in the development
of modern science and technology. It has become an essential
to most of our industries and to all of our engineering. 2
I. prefaCe
My earliest recollection of space travel was the star-size dot of the Soviet
Union’s Sputnik blinking on then of then on as it arced across the then
starry sky of Niagara falls, New York. and the frst photograph that ignited my
fantasies of space exploration (not withstanding motion pictures like Forbidden
Planet, This Island Earth, and The Day the Earth Stood Still) was the dismaying
launch-explosion of the Navy’s Vanguard One. It was the United States’ frst
efort to place a satellite into earth orbit in December 1957. the result was a
1. I wish to thank Steve Dick and his committee (which included asif Siddiqi) for having
chosen me to participate in the “remembering the Space age Conference”—a dream come
true. thank you as well to Leslie Martin and the aperture foundation for their invaluable
assistance in obtaining the artists’ rights to some of the fne art photographs used in this paper.
My gratitude to them for the inspiration I constantly receive from the world-class exhibitions,
books, and lectures that have catalyzed my thinking for this paper. NaSa Johnson Space
Center’s (JSC) Media resource Center, Michael Gentry (and his dedicated team) was always
available to fnd sought-after imagery, along with a wealth of information and insight on
human spacefight photography. Mary ann hager at the Lunar and planetary Institute
provided invaluable guidance on the fight photography of project apollo. ed Wilson and
Maura White of JSC’s Information and Imaging Systems branch provided research and high
resolution fles from apollo fight flms. the hubble SM4 crew of StS-125, whose wish
to make more insightful images during their mission, inspired me to explore and share
with them the photographic history of astronaut fight photography. and thanks to Loralee
Nolletti, my wife and mother to our son, Gabriel, for her remarkable skill and patience in the
editing of this paper.
2. William M. Ivins, Jr., Prints and Visual Communication (Cambridge, Ma: the MIt press,
1969), p. 179.